SPEECH  OF 


T  LI  O  M  A.  S  D  ELIOT, 

OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

Delivered  in  the  House  (f  Representatives  Feb.  10;  1864,  on  the  bill  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  of  Freedmen' s  Affairs. 


Mr.  Speaker,  in  introducing  this  bill  I  bespeak  for  it  the  favor  of  the  House,  and*in- 
voke  their  attention  to  the  arguments  constraining  us  to  its  speedy  passage. 

In  December,  1860,  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  enacted  her  ordinance  of  se¬ 
cession.  The  evil  example  of  that  traitor  State  was  followed  by  the  independent  action 
of  other  States,  and  the  Hebei  Confederacy  was  organized.  Its  object  was  to  destroy 
this  Union  and  to  build  upon  its  ruins  another  government  to  be  Ipiown  as  the  great 
slave  Power  of  the  century.  The  first  act  of  war  was  committed  in  April,  1861.  On  the 
15th  of  April  the  President  made  his  proclamation  calling  for  seventy-five,  thousandmen 
and  summoning  both  Houses  of  Congress  in  extra  session.  The  Thirty-Seventh  Congress 
assembled  on  the  4th  of  July,  1S61.  On  the  6th  of  August  an  act  was  passed  “to  con¬ 
fiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes.”  The  fourth  section  of  that  act 
provided  that  when  persons  “claimed  to  be  held  to  labor  or  service  ”  were  required  or 
permitted  to  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States,  or  to  work  or  be  employed  in 
military  service  against  the  United  States,  the  person  who  claimed  such  labor  or  ser¬ 
vice  should  forfeit  his  right  thereto.  It  was  a  gentle  act,  but  it  was  the  beginning  of 
a  good  work.  By  virtue  of  its  provisions  many  thousands  of  slaves  have  been  made 
free.  At  the  second  session  of  that  Congress  I  had  the  honor  to  report  from  the  select 
committee  a  confiscation  bill,  and  after  full  debate  the  bill,  as  amended  in  committee  of 
conference,  was  finally  passed.  By  the  ninth  section  of  that  act  it  was  provided  that 
slaves  of  rebels  escaping  within  our  lines  or  captured  from  them  or  deserted  by  them 
and  coming  under  our  control,  or  found  within  any  place  occupied  by  rebel  forces  and 
afterwards  by  our  own  forces,  should  be  deemed  captives  of  war  and  forever  freed  from 
slavery.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  the  President,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  in  time  of  "armed  rebellion,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for 
suppressing  the  lebellion,  declared  free  all  persons  held  as  slaves  in  certain  specified 
States  and  districts.  In  his  proclamation,  the  President  recommended  to  those  people 
so  declared  free  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self-defense,  and  ad- 
.  vised  them  to  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages.  And  upon  that  great  act,  which 
the  President  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution 
upon  military  necessity,  he  “invoked  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the 
generous  favor  of  Almighty  God.  ’  ’ 

The  immediate  effect  of  such  legislation  and  of  the  proclamation  of  the  President 
was  to  bring  under  the  control  of  our  Government  from  rebel  States,  and  in  districts 
conquered  by  our  arms,  large  multitudes  of  freedmen  who  had  ceased  to  be  slaves  but 
had  not  learned  how  to  be  free. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1863,  I  introduced  a  bill  to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Emancipa¬ 
tion.  It  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  but  for  want  of  time  was  not  reported  by 
them  to  the  House.  That  bill,  again  introduced  at  this  session,  and  made  .more  effi¬ 
cient  in  the  light  of  a  year’s  experience,  is  now  before  us.  Its  provisions  have  been 
carefully  examined  in  committee,  and  I  will  endeavor  to  explain  them  and  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  this  legislation,  its  object,  and  its  expected  benefits  to  the  freedmen  and  to  our¬ 
selves. 

The  question  is  not  now  whether  Mr.  Lincoln  was  correct  as  a  statesman  when  he 
declared  that  his  proclamation  was  “warranted  by  the  Constitutisn  upon  military  ne¬ 
cessity.”  The  question  is  n®t  now  whether  Congress  did  or  did  not  transcend  its  pow¬ 
ers  in  August,  1861,  or  in  July,  1862.  Upon  those  questions  we  have  all  arrived  at  a 
judgment.  During  the  debate  upon  the  confiscation  act  they  were  fully  discussed  ; 
and  whatever  our  judgment  may  be,  a  great  fact  now  exists  which  we  must  recognize, 
and  which  cries  out  to  us  for  legislation.  By  reason  of  that  proclamation,  and  of  our 
past  legislation,  and  of  the  successes  which  have  been  achieved  by  'our  armies  under 
their  valiant  generals,  three  million  persons  held  as  slaves  have  become  ard  are  be¬ 
coming  in  fact  free. 


f 


By  the  census  of  I860,  the  lonowing  stave  population  i«  iound  to  have  been  xu  the 
rebel  States  : 

Alabama . 435,080 

Arkansas .  111,116 

Florida .  61,745 

Georgia . 462,198 

Louisiana . 331,726 

Mississippi . ,  ...436,631 


North  Carolina . 331,059 

South  Carolina . 402,406 

Tennessee . 275,719 

Texas . 182,566 

Virginia . 490,865 


Slaves . 3,521,110 

Deduct  the  slaves  in  Tennessee,  o  wit : .  275,139 


And  estimate  the  excepted  portions  of  Louisiana  and  Virginia,  at: .  246,971 

and  there  will  remain  affected  by  the  terms  of  the  proclamation  three  millions  of 
slaves. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  declared  that  “all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  the  designated 
districts”  are  and  henceforward  shall  be  free,  he  did  an  act  as  Commander-In-Chief, 
which  was  irrevocable.  Whatever  rights  it  conferred  cannot  be  withdrawn.  He  may, 
as  Commander-in-Chief,  strike  off  the  chain,  but  he  cannot  in  any  capacity,  as  chief¬ 
tain,  or  as  President,  make  of  a  freedman  a  slave.  And  we  know  that  Mr.  Lincoln  so 
holds  the  law  to  be.  And  as  his  heart  was  in  that  great  proclamation  of  freodom,  so 
his  matured  judgment  rests  upon  it  firmly  content  .  In  his  message  to  the  present 
Congress  he  say3,  “While  I  remain  in  my  present  position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  re¬ 
tract  or  modify  the  emancipation  proclamation  ;  nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any  per¬ 
son  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.” 
Shortly  after  that  proclamation  was  made,  I  had  an  interview  with  the  President,  and 
he  then  said,  “I  think  that  proclamation  will  not  of  itself  effect  the  good  which  you 
anticipate,  nor  will  it  do  the  mischief  which  its  opponents  predict.”  Bnt  he  “  builded 
better  than  he  knew.”  That  act  was  the  great  act  of  his  life.  It  has  become  greater 
daily  in  the  judgment  of  the  worfd,  and  in  the  ages  that  are  to  come  it  will  be  the  cor- 
ner-etone  of  his  immortal  fame.  Never  before  had  such  opportunity  been  given  to 
man.  For  one  I  reverently  recognize  the  hand  of  God.  He  created  the  occasion,  and 
His  servant^oheyed  the  divine  command  which  it  involved. 

Bnt  Mr.  Lincoln’s  proclamation  cannot  effect  the  good  it  contemplated  unless,  first, 
it  be  vindicated  and  made  effective  by  military  sneoess,  and,  secondly,  by  appropriate 
legislation.  The  shackles  have  been  loosened  from  the  slave,  bnt  defeated  armies 
w*ould  leave  the  conquerors  free  to  weld  them  on  again  with  bolts  that  could  not  be 
stricken  off.  Mr.  Lincoln  referred  to  this  possibility  in  his  recent  annual  message. 
“  It  was  all  the  while  deemed  possible,”  he  says,  “that  the  necessity  for  it  might 
come;”  that  is  to  say,  the  necessity  of  emancipation  as  a  military  measure;  “and 
that,  if  it  should,  the  crisis  of  the  contest  would  then  be  presented.  It  came,  and  as 
was  anticipated  it  was  followed  by  dark  and  doubtful  days.  Eleven  months  having 
now  passed,  we  are  permitted  to  take  another  review.  The  rebel  borders  are  pressed 
still  farther  back,  and  by  the  complete  opening  of  the  Mississippi  the  country  domi¬ 
nated  by  the  rebellion  is  divided  into  distinct  parts,  with  no  practical  communication 
between  them.”  The  successes  which  onr  Union  armies  have  achieved  during  the  past 
year  have  been  undisturbed  by  any  failure  that  can  cast  a  shadow  upon  the  bright  cer¬ 
tainty  of  final  triumph.  In  the  graveyard  at  Gettysburg  the  rebel  hopes  of  victory  on 
northern  soil  were  buried.  The  stricken  hosts  of  Lee’s  army  will  not  revisit  those 
fields  of  blood,  where  the  unlaid  ghosts  of  rebel  traitors  would  taunt  them  with  their 
defeat.  Upon  the  Mississippi,  when  Vicksburg  fell  before  the  consummate  genius  of 
Grant  and  the  heroism  of  his  officers  and  men,  and  when  the  keys  of  Port  Hudson  were 
yielded  to  Banks  by  hands  unwilling  to  surrender  but  impotent  to  resist,  a  free  high¬ 
way  was  again  thrown  open,  dividing  the  region  where  treason  had  prevailed  and 
breaking  its  strength  in  twain,  while  it  drew  ^together  again  the  North  and  . the  loyal 
South  by  that  bond  of  living  waters  which  God  from  the  beginning  had  established. 
All  honor  to  those  men,  heroes  all  of  them,  in  those  great  battles  which  crushed  the 
hopes  of  rebel  leaders  in  the  East,  and  northern  traitors,  their  allies  an<Mrue  friends 
and  have  sealed  our  assurance  of  ultimate  success.  At  every  step  made  hy  our  armies 
upon  southern  soil  freedmen  have  come  within  onr  actual  control,  and^nave  sought  to 
prove  their  allegiance  and  to  receive  protection.  The  President  tells  us  that — 

“  Of  those  who  were  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  full  one  hundred  thou- 
“  sand  are  now  in  the  United  States  military  service,  about  one  half  of  which  number 
*  actually  hear  arms  in  the  ranks.” 

Bat  three  times  that  number  would  not  more  than  state  the  aggregate  of  those  who 
were  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  and  are  now  under  the  protection  of  oatr 
Government.  In  November,  1862,  a  committee  of  Friends,  or  Quakers,  under  appoint¬ 
ment  from  the  New  York  Yearly  Meeting,  visited  Washington,,  Alexandria,  Fort  Monroe, 


v_ 


Hampton,  Norfolk,  and  Craney  Island,  to  investigate  the  condition  and  wants  of  colored 
refugees.  At  that  time,  before  the  military  proclamation  of  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
there  were  in  and  around  Washington  about  six  thousand  refugees,  at  Alexandria, 
twelve  hundred  and  thirty,  at  Fort  Monroe,  Hampton,  Fort  Norfolk,  Craney  Island,  and 
Norfold,  six  thousand  and  fifty-four,  and  many  others,  whose  numbers  they  could  not 
then  ascertain,  at  Yorktown,  Suffolk,  and  Portsmouth  ;  that  is  to  say,  at  that  early  day 
within  this  territory  there  were  known  to  be  thirteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty 
of  these  freedmen  who  wanted  work  and  wages.  This  commission  issned  from  the 
New  York  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  missions  in  this  great 
work.  The  report  of  William  Cromwell  and  Benjamin  Tatham  is  full  of  interesting  facts 
and  of  sound  practical  suggestions. 

The  destitution  of  these  people,  their  suffering  from  neglect  and  disease,  their  will¬ 
ingness  and  ability  to  work,  their  wages  promised  and  earned  and  half  paid,  and  the 
ascertained  value  of  their  labor  to  the  Government  beyond  the  whole  expense  involved, 
are  stated  in  brief  and  plain  language,  without  exaggeration,  and  with  no  harsh  com¬ 
ment.  Before  this  action  by  the  New  York  Yearly  Meeting,  associations  had  been 
initiated  in  several  places  by  humane  men,  who  contributed  freely  both  time  and  money 
in  this  work  ;  ascertaining  facts  by  personal  investigation,  and  working  with  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  so  far  as  they  might  to  relieve,  to  educate,  and  to  employ  those  freedmen  of 
the  South.  The  educational  commission  of  Boston,  the  national  freedmen’s  relief  asso¬ 
ciation  of  New  York,  and  Port  Royal  relief  committee  of  Philadelphia,  had  been  organ¬ 
ized  and  were  actively  at  work. 

Mr.  Edward  L.  Peirce,  under  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  before 
the  supervision  of  affairs  at  Port  Royal,  was  transferred  from  the  Treasury  to  the  War 
Department,  went  to  Port  Royal  and  examined  and  reported  on  the  condition  of  the 
freedmen  and  on  their  self-sustaining  ability  when  aided  in  their  early  efforts  by  the 
Government  that  had  made  them  free.  His  earnest  labors,  aided  by  the  associations  of 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  and  his  admirable  reports  to  Mr.  Chase,  whose 
personal  and  offioial  care  have  been  given  heartily  to  freedmen  as  well  as  to  finance, 
have  furnished  to  the  committee  information  of  the  highest  practical  character  and 
value.  The  friends  of  emancipation  in  the  West  have  contributed  their  proportion  of 
monoy  and  labor  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  the  freedmen  upon  the  Mississippi  and 
to  give  them  the  welcome  and  protecting  hand  which  their  untried  freedom  might 
require.  The  contraband  relief  commission  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  has  recently  appointed 
a  committee  to  suggest  a  plan  for  the  benefit  of  freedmen  and  for  the  occupation 
of  tli8  lands  from  which  white  traitors  had  fled  and  on  which  loyal  black  men 
lived.  In  an  s'  >le  report  made  by  George  Graham  and  John  W.  Hartwell  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  Bureau  of  Emancipation  is  recommended. 

•  At  St.  Louis  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission  has  been  actively  employed  in  the 
same  direction.  Of  the  humane  agencies  which  this  rebellion  has  called  into  life  no 
one  has  done  more  to  relieve  the  soldiers  of  our  western  army  than  this  commission. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  war  these  earnest  men  have  labored  in  their  great  work. 
And  now  they  have  found  opening  to  them  this  new  field  of  labor.  Their  president, 
Mr.  James  E.  Yeatman,  has  recently  returned  from  a  tour  of  observation  in  the  lower 
Mississippi  valley  from  Cairo  to  Natchez.  He  has  gone  in  person  to  the  camps  where 
the  freedmen  are  collected  and  has  examined  into  their  condition  that  he  might  “  as¬ 
certain  their  wants  and  how  they  can  be  relieved  and  make  such  recommendations  and 
suggestions  for  their  management  and  improvement  as  will  bring  them  as  speedily  as 
possible  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  which  the  President’s  proclamation  of  free¬ 
dom  was  designed  to  confer  upon  them.  ’ 

During  the  past  year  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Stanton,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Mr.  Chase,  have  done  all  that  could  be  done  without  definite  legislation  by 
Congress  to  make  the  labor  of  the  freedmen  profitable  to  themselves  and  serviceable  tie 
the  country  in  the  camp  and  in  the  field.  How  the  freedmen  have  become  soldiers, 
and  wbat  brave  soldiers  they  are,  1  do  not  stop  to  consider.  Gentlemen  doubted  last 
year  whether  they  would  fight.  Nobody  doubts  now.  I  would  that  I  had  time,  for  I 
could  tell  of  one  from  my  own  city,  Sergeant  Carney,  of  the  Massachusetts  fifty-fourth 
whose  dark  complexion  covers  but  cannot  cloud  a  true  soul  and  a  brave  heart.  I  could 
tell  you  how  he  seized  the  regimental  colors  and  planted  them  upon  Fort  Wagner ;  how 
he  was  shot  down  holding  firmly  aloft  his  sacred  banner  ;  how  he  kept  his  post  while 
men  wfcre  falling  around  him,  his  own  blood  pouring  out  the  while,  until  the  attack 
was  over ;  how,  after  his  regiment  retired,  he  remained,  his  colois  flying  and  within 
Hie  fort,  but  no  one  there  to  defend  or  to  support  him ;  how  he  dragged  his  shattered 
body  alone,  holding  his  banner  up,  supporting  himself  with  it  as  with  a  staff;  how  be 
was  again  sorely  wounded  by  a  rebtl  ball,  but  kept  on  his  way  undaunted  and  tuasab- 
dued  until  he  had  drawn  himself,  his  colors  flying,  toward  his  regiment  ;  and  how 
wearied  and  fainting,  he  found  his  men.  saying  as  he  fed  exhausted  and  spent,  tJ^re 


4 

are  the  oolors  hoys,  they  have  not  touched  the  ground!”  Other  men  wear  stars  upon 
their  shoulder  ;  hut  this  man,  black  though  he  may  he  shall  live  in  history,  himself  a 
star,  fixed  and  luminous  forever. 

Sir,  where  these  men  have  bad  opportunity  they  hav  vindicated  their  full  manhood. 
They  have  shown  more  manly  treatment  than  they  have  received.  They  have  not 
feared  to  fight  or  to  die  in  battle.  We  have  feared  to  pay  them  as  soldiers  or  to  ac¬ 
knowledge  them  as  men.  At  some  time  prior  to  June,  1863,  Messrs.  Robert  Dale 
Owen,  James  McKay,  and  Samuel  0.  Howe  were  appointed  commissioners  from  the 
American  freedmen’s  inquiry  commission,  under  authority  from  the  Secretary  of  War, 
to  examine  into  the  condition  and  the  management  of  emancipated  refugees.  In  June 
they  made  their  preliminary  report,  which  has  been  published  by  authority  of  the  War 
Department.  It  concerns  the  refugees  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Florida.  This  report  describe's  their  condition  as  refu¬ 
gees,  speaks  of  them  as  military  laborers,  and  discusses  their  ability  as  soldiers,  and 
it  recommends  also  the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  in  the  War  Department  for  the  su¬ 
pervision  and  conduct  of  their  affairs. 

Mr.  Speaker,  your  committee  has  sought  and  acquired  information  from  all  these 
sources.  I  have  also  conferred  i»  person  and  by  correspondence  with  parties  whose 
business  has  led  them  among  these  refugees,  and  whose  means  of  personal  knowledge 
of  their  condition  and  wants  have  enabled  them  to  speak  with  some  authority. 

Upon  one  proposition  we  have  found  a  decided  and  united  judgment.  Everyone 
whose  knowledge  has  been  personal  declares  the  imperative  and  immediate  importance 
of  such  a  bill  as  your  committee  has  reported  to  the  House.  For  it  is  true  that  milita¬ 
ry  successes  alone  cannot  make  the  great  proclamation  of  Mr.  Lincoln  fully  effective  as 
an  act  of  justice  to  the  freedman,  nor  as  a  benefit  to  the  nation  at  large.  To  that  end 
there  must  be  appropriate  and  efficient  legislation.  Without  that  a  generation  of  freed- 
men  would  be  destroyed  before  a  generation  of  free  men  would  live.  Mr.  Lincoln  says, 
“  I  recommed  to  them,”  that  is,  the  freedmen,  “that  in  all  'cases  when  allowed,  they 
labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages.”  So  they  will  if  allowed.  But  who  is  to  allow 
them  ?  Will  you  let  harpies  go  among'  them,  or  white  blood-hounds  whose  scent  is 
keen  for  prey,  whose  fangs  are  remorseless,  whose  pursuit  is  for  gold  at  any  cost  of  hu¬ 
man  life  ?  Such  men  have  been  there  ;  they  are  there  now,  under  color  of  Government 
authority ;  and  the  abuses  practiced  by  them  sadden  and  depress  the  freedmen.  The 
President  of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission,  speaking  from  his  own  observation, 
says,  “  he  sighs  to  return  to  his  former  home  and  master.  He  at  least  fed,  clothed, 
and  sheltered  him.  Something  should  be  done,  and  I  doubt  not  will  be  done,  to  cor¬ 
rect  these  terrible  abuses,  when  the  proper  authorities  are  made  to  comprehend  them. 
The  President’s  proclamation  should  not  thus  be  made  a  living  lie,  as  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  hass  too  long  been,  in  asserting  the  inalienable  rights  of  man,  while  the 
nation  continued  to  hold  millions  of  human  beings  in  bondage.”  Neither  the  conside¬ 
rate  judgment  of  mankind  nor  the  gracious  favor  of  God  can  be  reasonably  invoked 
upon  the  President’s  act  of  freedom  unless  the  law  shall  protect  the  freedom  which  the 
sword  declared. 

The  President  submitted  recently  to  the  consideration  of  the  House  a  letter  which  he 
had  received  from  a  joint  committee'  of  the  freedmen’s  aid  societies  of  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Cincinnati.  The  sources  of  accurate  knowledge  which  have 
been  open  to  these  parties  entitle  what  they  say  to  great  consideration.  We  look  into 
history  and  it  is  silent.  No  voice  of  the  past  can  define  the  duties  which  the  great 
facts  of  the  present  time  enjoin  upon  us.  We  look  to  England,  and  the  story  of  her 
emancipation  in  the  West  India  Islands  is  fresh  in  our  memory.  The  English  oak  is 
thrifty  in  its  green  old  age,  in  whose  shade  Wilberforce  and  Pitt  took  counsel  together 
before  the  bill  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  was  introduced.  But  the  act  of  June,  1833, 
declared  to  be  free  some  six  or  eight  hundred  thousand  persons.  We  have,  and  shall 
have,  as  the  free  fruits  of  this  rebellion,  more  than  three  millions.  Yet  the  act  of 
England  also  provided  for  the  early  years  of  freedom.  Ten  years  before,  Parliament 
had  voted  to  adopt  decisive  and  effectual  measures  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the 
slave  population.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  literature  of  abolition  know  what 
those  measures  were.  *  The  Colonial  Secretary  of  State  addressed  the  Colonial  Governors, 
directing  them  to  submit  certain  propositions  to  their  Legislatures.  The  propositions 
were  submited,  but  they  were  all  rejected,  and  the  condition  of  the  slaves  remaned 
unchanged.  Then,  ten  years  afterwards,  came  the  act  of  emancipation.  But  that  act 
sought  to  break  gently  to  the  eye  the  light  of  day.  The  slave  was  to  be  an  apprentice 
before  he  became  a  man.  For  these  apprentices  special  guardians  were  appointed  and 
their  duties  were  defined.  Before  the  term  of  apprenticeship  had  expired,  full  freedom 
was  proclaimed  in  all  the  colonies.  But  between  the  date  of  the  act  of  emancipation 
and  the  final  proclamation  of  freedom  in  1839,  the  Government  of  England  published 
in  documents  of  aM  kinds — orders,  dispatches,  reports,  and  decrees — fifteen  folio  vol- 


5 

times,  which  contained  more  than  seven  thousand  pages,  and  we  may  learn  there  how 
their  early  freedom  affected  the  freedmen  and  the  colonies. 

But  the  condition  of  things  in  the  West  India  Islands  differed  so  essentially  from  the 
state  of  facts  caused  by  this  rebellion  that  colonial  experiences  are  only  or  ohiefly  val¬ 
uable  to  us  as  demonstrating  the  necessity  of  timely  and  efficient  legislation.  And  if 
we  turn  to  France,  and  recall  the  story  of  her  action  to  liberate  the  colonial  slave  and 
to  elevate  the  enfranchised  man,  and  review  the  facts  with  which  that  nation  had  to 
deal,  we  find  after  years  of  discussion  and  inaction  convulsive  abolition  decreed  in  1794 
and  deliberate  slavery  re-established  in  1802,  until  another  convulsion  created  the  re¬ 
public  and  compelled  the  decree  of  1848.  And  here  also  we  find  legislation  and  de¬ 
crees  and  regulations  aiming  to  protect  both  freedman  and  Government,  and  although 
we  may  learn  no  other  lesson  we  are  compelled  to  learn  this — that  emancipation,  while 
it  restores  rights  to  the  slave,  devolves  high  duties  upon  the  Government  by  whose 
decree  it  has  been  proclaimed.  If  we  look  to  what  was  done  in  Sweden  two  years  be¬ 
fore  the  provisional  Government  of  France  had  acted,  or  in  Denmark  following  her  ex¬ 
ample  the  next  year,  or  in  Portugal,  or  much  later  in  Russia,  we  still  come  back  to 
consider  our  own  present  duties,  guided  by  this  light  alone  which  the  experience  of 
other  nations  gives  to  us,  and  which  reveals  to  us  the  need  of  immediate  and  efficient 
action.  No  nation  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  with  whose  history  I  am  conversant  has 
held  in  bondage  over  so  wide  extent  of  country  so  many  millions  of  human  beings  as 
this  nation  has  dared  to  hold  under  a  Constitution  which  the  people  ordained  to  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  and  to  establish  justice ;  nor  has  human  ingenuity  ever  devised 
a  system  of  slavery  more  debasing  in  its  character  to  the  slave  or  to  his  master.  Even 
in  Spanish  colonies,  where  the  condition  of  the  negro  slave  has  been  and  is  degraded 
below  the  level  of  humanity,  rights  are  secured  by  law  which  the  master  is  bound  to 
respect.  He  may  ransom  himself  and  his  wife  and  children  by  the  produce  ok  his 
labor.  He  may  have  a  wife  by  law,  and  *he  may  change  his  master  if  he  can  find 
a  purchaser  .whom  he  confides  in.  No  such  rights,  nor  any  others  that  'I  know  of,  are 
so  secured  by  law  as  to  be  made  available  to  the  slave  in  our  southern  States.  Yet  the 
service  of  a  person ,  and  not  the  body  and  life  of  a  human  being,  is  all  that  our  Consti¬ 
tution  ever  meant  to  recognize  as  the  subject  of  property.  Where  slavery  has  been 
most  uncompromising  and  cruel  the  freedman *is  found  most  helpless  and  most  deserv¬ 
ing  aid. 

Mr.  Speaker,  this  war  has  been  continued  for  nearly  three  years.  From  its  com¬ 
mencement  it  was  plain  that  the  freedom  of  the  slave  must  follow  military  success. 
But  up  to  this  day  not  one  act  has  been  done  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to 
protect  freedmen  or  to  aid  them  in  self-protection  or  self-support.  This  great  work, 
the  greatest  work  which  this  rebellion  casts  upon  the  Government,  has  yet  to  be  com¬ 
menced. 

Why,  sir,  what  has  been  done  hitherto?  Let  me  tell.  you.  The  rebellion  began  in 
April,  1861.  In  August,  at  an  extra  session,  an  act  was  passed  providing  for  an  annual 
direct  tax  of  $20,000,000,  duly  apportioned  anmng  all  the  States.  There  were  $5,153,- 
981  28  apportioned  to  the  rebel  States.  In  June.  1862,  an  act  was  passed  for  the  col¬ 
lection  of  those  taxes  in  insurrectionary  districts.  The  lands  were  charged  with  the 
payment  of  the  tax,  and  sales  of  the  lands  were  provided  for.  Tax  commissioners 
were  created  and  their  duties  specified.  After  .sales  had  been  effected  and  the  lands 
purchased  on  account  of  the  United  States,  under  the  terms  of  the  act  these  commis¬ 
sioners  were  empowered  to  lease  certain  of  the  lands  together  or  in  parcels,  the  leases 
to  be  “in  such  form  and  with  such  security  as  shall,  in  the  judgment  of  said  commis¬ 
sioners,  produce  Jo  the  United  States  the  greatest  revenue.”  By  the  tenth  section  of 
the  act  the  commissioners  are  empowered  to  make  rules  and  regulations,  and  insert 
such  clauses  in  the  leases  as  will  secure  proper  and  reasonable  employment  and  sup¬ 
port,  at  wages  or  on  shares,  of  persons  and  families  residing  on  the  lands.  That  was 
the  first  notice  taken  by  legislation  of  the  freedmen. 

It  is  important,  because  it  was  a  recognition  by  Congress  of  an  obligation  to  see  that 
'some  proper  and  reasonable  employment  and  suppgrt  were  given  to  these  loyal  men. 
But  it  was  an  act  whose  object  was  to  raise  money  and  get  revenue.  The  lands  are  to 
be  leased  in  such  form  and  with  such  security  as  will  produce  the  ‘  ‘  greatest  amount  of 
revenue.  ’  ’  The  act  itself  was  not  dictated  by  humanity,  but  by  prudence  and  national 
thrift.  And,  sir,  I  greatly  fear  that  in  its  administration  the  “greatest  revenue”  has 
had  the  largest  consideration.*  I  trust  in  God  the  time  is  not  remote  when  they  may 
have  fair  wages  for  fair  work.  At  this  moment  there  is,  as  I  believe,  in  the  Treasury 
more  than  a  million  dollars  which  the  freedmen  have  contributed  largely  to  produce . 
The  testimony  of  parties  who  have  personally  examined  into  the  facts  concerning  work 
and  wages  of  the  freedmen  is  uniform  that  not  only  are  those  men  often  employed  upon 
leased  lands  at  less  than  half  wages,  but  that  in  many  cases,  when  employed  directly 
by  officers  of  the  Government,  they  are  compelled  te  receive  less  than  one-third  of  the 


wages  that  similar  service  from  others  at  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  time  demanded 
and  received.  I  know  very  well  how  difficult  it  may  be  to  protect  fiom  the  calculating 
speculator  who  has  power  the  thoughtless  and  improvident  man  who  wants  bread. 
But  over  the  thoughtlessness  and  improvidence  which  oppression  has  eausod,  it  is  both 
a  privilege  and  a  duty  to  keep  kindly  guard  until  the  liberty  we  have  vouchsafed  shall 
give  to  the  freedmen  mental  nerve  and  moral  self-reliance.  Mr.  Speaker,  besides  the 
law  I  have  referred  to  there  have  been  throe  distinct  appropriations  of  money  made  fer 
purposes  of  colonization. 

Already  ttie  experience  of  a  year,  with  the  ombarassrnents  created  by  disloyalty, 
timidity,  distrust,  and  avarice,  has  satisfied  all  who  have  sought  to  know  the  facts  that 
at  the  end  of  this  rebellion  there  will  be  no  freedmen  whom  the  economical  interests  of 
this  Union  can  afford  to  spare.  My  friend  from  Illinois  [Mr.  W ashrutjnb]  is  seeking  to 
make  it  easier  by  legislative  provision  for  white  emigrants  to  come  among  us.  I  wish 
him  success.  Let  them  come — the  healthy,  sturdy,  and  studious  German  from  the 
Rhine  to  the  Vistula.  W e  will  welcome  them  all — and  the  impetuous  Irish  and  the  canny 
Scotch  ?  We  have  room  enough  for  all  loyal  men  from  all  lands  under  the  sun.  But 
we  cannot  spare  the  freednfbn.  In  those  tropical  regions  of  ihe  South  where  they  have 
been  deprived  of  themselves  they  have  a  right  to  live.  And  the  industrial  interests  of 
our  country  require  that  their  compensated  labor  should  enrich  the  land  which  has 
ween  cursed  by  their  unpaid  toil.  But,  sir,  all  our  legislation  thus  far  has  been  for 
ourselves.  We  have  imposed  taxes  upon  the  lands  and  subjected  them  to  sale.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  has  become  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  abandoned 
property.  We  have  appointed  tax  commissioners  and  laid  on  them  the  duty  of  leasing 
lands  so  as  to  bring  to  the  Treasury  the  greatest  revenue.  We  have  provided  for  the 
©x-patriation  of  the  freedman,  but  not  for  his  relief.  Tho  necessity  for  practical  legis¬ 
lation  upon  this  great  subject  is  thus  made  plain. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  purposes  and  objects  of  this  law  ar  twofold  ;  and  they  are  vindi 
eatea  by  the  plainest  considerations  of  justice  and  of  self-interest.  The  Government  of 
the  United  States  stands  committed  before  the  world  this  day  l>y  the  laws  which  we 
have  passed,  by  the  proclamation  of  the  President,  and  indeed  by  the  neccessary  issues 
of  this  rebellion,  to  a  humane  and  enlightened  policy  toward  the  freedmen  of  the  South. 
Our  laws  have  made  them  free  ;  the  proclamation  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  has  de¬ 
clared  them  free  ;  and  day  by  day,  as  this  war  has  culminated  toward  the  meridian  of 
freedom,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  loyal  men,  slaves  heretofore,  stand  before  your 
armies  waiting  your  action,  that  the  freedom  you  have  vouchsafed  shall  be  a  blessing 
and  not  a  curse.  Why  were  these  men  made  free?  Was  it  because  slavery  was 
wrong,  because  it  degraded  the  slave  and  tempted  the  master  away  from  the  great 
truths  of  our  common  Master  who  spoke  upon  the  mount  ?  Was  it  that  we  might 
“  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar’s  ?”  Was  the  conscience  of  the  nation 
troubled  by  reason  of  its  sins,  and  did  the  Commander-in-Chief  therefore  proclaim  his 
gospel  of  glad  tidings,  and  did  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  therefore  emancipate 
the  slaves  of  rebels  ?  If  that  had  been  so  in  fact ;  if  Congress  could  have  seen  that  it 
was  better  m  the  sight  of  God  to  obey  the  laws  of  God  rather  than  the  constitutions  of 
men  ;  if  the  Commander-in-Chief  could  under  his  oath  of  office  as  a  high  act  of  justice, 
justified  as  such  and  not  by  military  necessity,  have  decreed  freedom  to  the  enslaved, 
it  would  nevertheless  have  been  incumbent  on  ns  to  lead  them  gently  into  the  land  of 
promise,  and  not  to  permit  them  to  wander  through  the  wilderness  until  a  generation 
had  died  by  the  way. 

But  it  was  not  so,  and  upon  the  facts  of  history  it  would  be  an  act  of  meaness  which 
no  language  can  fitly  describe,  and  'for  which  no  national  suffering  could  fitly  atone,  if 
we  should  leave  those  men,  freshly  freed  after  a  life  of  servitude,  children  of  the  na¬ 
tion  as  they  are,  to  grope  their  way  into  the  light  without  parent  or  guardian  or  friend. 
Why,  sir,  we  freed  them  for  our  own  selfish  ends.  It  was  to  weaken  the  enemy.  It 
was  as  a  means  of  crushing  the  rebellion.  It  was  because  they  were  made  to  work 
while  tho  rebels  fought.  It  was  .because  we  wanted  their  strong  arms  upon  our  side. 
It  was  because  we  began  to  see  that  we  must  fight  them  or  free  them.  Let  us  not  he 
too  self-righteous,  for  “even  the  publicans”  would  have  done  the  “same.”  Look 
back  and  recall  the  arguments  upon  which  the  constitutionality  of  all  legislation  has 
been  defended.  Sound  arguments  they  were,  and  by  slow  degrees  they  have  commend¬ 
ed  themselves  to  magistrates  and  to  men,  until  now  the  heart  of  the  nation  rests  eon- 
ten  tly  upon  the  logio  of  their  conclusions.  But  they  were  arguments xlrawn  from  the 
arsenal  of  military  necessity.  They  woro  hurled  by  the  power  of  the  laws  of  war 
against  a  national  iniquity,  it  is  true,  but  against  it,  not  because  it  was  a  sin,  but  be- 
eause  it  was  a  strength  to  the  enemy  which  we  had  a  right  to  annihilate  and  destroy. 
"Well,  sir,  we  have  destroyed  it,  and  as  our,  armies  march  on,  its  destruction  becomes 
more  certain  and  more  universal,  and  now  a  great  national  duty  looks  us  in  the 


7 

Sir,  we  had  no  right  to  decree  freedom  and  not  to  guaranty  safe  guidance  and  protec¬ 
tion.  It  does  not  meet  the  case  to  say  we  had  no  right  to  free  them,  and  therefore  we 
will  not  act.  And  I  invoke  the  practical  statesmanship  and  the  personal  humanity  of 
those  who  do  not  see  their  way  open  to  act  with  ns  who  are  now  charged  with  the  ad¬ 
ministration  of  this  Government,  to  unite  with  us  here  and  now  upon  this  legislation 
which  existing  facts  demand.  For,  whether  it  was  right  or  wrong  under  the  Constitution 
to  decree  emancipation  by  law  or  proclamation,  it  has  been  done, .  and  it  cannot  be  un¬ 
done.  We  ar<?  responsible  for  it.  But  because  of  it,  and  because  of  the  rebellion  it¬ 
self,  which  preceded  military  orders  and  ail  congressional  enactments,  three  millions, 
of  enslaved  men  have  become  and  ai'e  becoming  free.  Concede  it  was  wrong.  Wnat 
then  ?  Is  there  a  man  upon  this  floor  who  would  send  them  back  to  slavery  ?  If  not, 
what  shall  bo  done  ?  Shall  tlie  Government  support  them  ?  They  must  do  so  in  some 
way,  with  law  or  without  law.  They  must  riot  starve.  They  have  been  driven  into 
their  grave  by  hunger  and  by  neglect  already.  Shall  this  continue  ?  Mr.  Yoatman, 
of  the  Western  Sanitary  Commission,  after  his  examination  into  the  condition  of  freed- 
men  between  Memphis  and  Natches,  writes  as  follows  : 

“  The  poor  negroes  are  everywhere  greatly  oppressed  at  their  condition.  They  all 
“  testify  that  if  they  were  only  paid  their  little  wages  as  they  earn  them,  so  that  they 
“  could  purchase  clothing,  and  furnished  with  the  provisions  promised  they  could  stand 
“it ;  but  to  work  and  get  poorly  paid,  poorly  fed,  and  not  doctored  when  sick,  is  mure 
“  than  they  can  endure.  Among  the  thousands  whom  I  questioned  none  showed  the 
“least  unwillingness  to  work.  If  they  could  only  be  paid  fair  wages  they  would  be 
“contented  and  happy.  They  do  not  realize  that  they  are  free  men.  They  say  that 
“  they  are  told  they  are,  but  then  they  are  taken  and  hired  out  to  men  who  treat  them, 
“so  far  as  providing  form  them  is  concerned,  far  worse  than  their  ‘ secesh  ’  masters 
“  did.  Besides  this  they  feel  that  their  pay  or  hire  is  lower  now  than  it  was  when 
“  ‘  the  seeosh  5  used  to  hire  them.” 

“The  parties  leasing  plantations  and  employing  these  negroes  do  it  from  no  motives 
“either  of  loyaity  or  humanity.  The  desire  of  gain  alone  prompts  them,  and  they 
“  care  little  whether  they  make  it  out  of  the  blood  of  those  they  employ  or  from  the 
“soil.  There  are  of  course  exceptions  ;  but  I  am  informed  that  the  majority  of  the 
'•‘lessees  were  only  adventurers,  camp’  followers,  ‘Army  Sharks,’  as  they  are  termed, 
“  who  have  turned  aside  from  what  they  consider  tlieir  legitimate  prey,  the  poor  sol- 
“  dier,  to  gather  the  riches  of  the  land  which  his  prowess  has  laid  open  to  them..  I 
“  feel  that  the  fathers  and  brothers  and  friends  of  these  brave  men  should  have  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  reap,  under  a  more  equitable  system  for  the  laborer,  the  reward  of  the 
“  months  of  toil  and  exposure  it  lias  cost  to  open  this  country  to  the  institutions  of 
“  freedom  and  compensated  labor.  If  these  jilantations  were  required  to  be  sub-divided 
“  into  parcels  or  tracts  to  suit  the  views  and  means  of  our  western  men,  say  in  farms 
“of  from  one  to  two  hundred  acres,  thousands  would  soon  flock  to  the  South  to  lease 
“them,  especially  when  it  was  known  that  one  acre  of  ground  there  cultivated  in  cot- 
“ton  would  yield,  in  dollars,  ten  times  as  much  as  at  home.  Besides  this,  subdivision 
“  would  attract  a  loyal  population,  who  would  protect  the  country  against  any  guerrilla 
“bands  that  might  infest  it.” 

This  testimony  from  one  who  speaks  of  what  he  saw  and  knows  does  not  stand 
alone.  It  is  indeed  the  voice  of  many  who  have  gone  among  the  freedmen  in 
their  new  homes  along  the  Mississippi.  Yet  the  Government  at  Washington  has  en¬ 
deavored  to  do  all  that  in  the  absence  of  any  legislative  authority  could  have  been  done 
without  more  means  of  knowledge  to  guide  them  in  their  action.  General  Thomas, 
who  has  been  organizing  colored  regiments  under  oiders  from  the  War  Department, 
found  that  some  plan  should  be  adopted  at  once  to  regulate  the  labor  and  wages  of  the 
freedmen.  Sucli  work  was  not  fairly  within  the  scope  of  his  authority,  and  great  er¬ 
rors  have  been  committed  ;  but  experience  was  gained  which  will  be  made  valuable 
''both  to  control  the  rapacity  of  men  whose  sole  object  is  gaifc  and  to  secure  the  honest 
laborer  his  fair  compensation.  But  to  illustrate  somewhat  the  treatment  these  freed¬ 
men  have  been  receiving  at  Memphis,  I  call  attention  to  one  other  statement  made  by 
Mr.  Yeatman  ; 

“  Within  the  city  of  Memphis,  not  directly  connected  with  any  of  the  camps  or  with 
“  the  colored  regiments,  there  are  some  three  thousand  freed  men  and  women,  mostly 
“  freed  men,  who  are  employed  in  various  ways  and  at  various  rates  of  compensation. 
“Those  employed  by  Government  receive  but  ten  dollars  per  month;  while  many 
“could  readily  earn  from  thirty  to  fifty  dollars  per  month.  Those  thus  employed  are 
“  outside  of  the  military  organization. 

“  To  give  an  instance  :  one  quartermaster  told  me  that  he  had  in  his  employment  a 
“  harness  maker,  to  whom  they  could  only  pay  ten  dollars  per  month,  while  they  were 
“  paying  white  men  doing  the  same  work  forty-five  dollars  per  month  ;  and  that  the 
“colored  man  could  readily  procure  the  same  wages  were  he  allowed  to  seek  a  market 


“for  his  labor  in  the  same  town.  I  saw  a  number  of  colored  men  pressed  into  service 
“  fnot  military)  to  labor  at  the  rate  of  ten  dollars  per  month,  one  of  whom  petitioned  to 
“be  released  as  he  had  a  good  situation  at  thirty  dollars  per  month.  The  firemen  on 
*•  the  steamboat  on  which  I  was  passenger  from' St.  Louis  to  Memphis  were  all  colored, 
“  and  were  receiving  forty-five  dollars  per  month.  These  men  were  afraid  to  go  ashore 
“at  Memphis  for  fear  of  being  picked  up  and  forced  into  Government  employment  at 
“  less  than  one-fourth  their  existing  wages.  Besides  the  fact  that  men  are  thus  pressed 
“into  service,  thousands  have  been  employed  for  weeks  and  months  who  have  never 
“received  anything  but  promises  to  pay.  The  negligence  and  failure  to  comply  with 
“obligations  have  greatly  disheartened  the  poor  slave  who  comes  forth  at  the  call  of 
“the  President,  and  supposes  himself  to  be  a  free  man,  and  that  by  leaving  his  rebel 
“master  he  is  inflicting  a  blow  on  the  enemy,  ceasing  to  labor  and  provide  food  for  him 
“and  the  armies  of  the  rebellion.  Thus  he  was  promised  freedom,  but  how  is  it  with 
“him  ?  He  is  seized  in  the  street  and  ordered  to  go  and  help  unload  a  steamboat,  for 
“which  he  will  be  paid,  or  sent  to  work  in  the  trenches,  or  to  labor  for  some  quarter- 
“  master,  or  to  chop  wood  for  the  Government.  He  labors  for  months,  and  ksX  last  is 
“  only  paid  with  promises,  unless  perchance  it  may  be  with  kicks,  cuffs,  and  curses.” 

Now,  sir,  I  have  faith  to  believe  that  this  House  will,  by  no  party  vote,  determine 
that  these  abuses,  so  far  as  they  aje  controllable  by  legislation,  shall  be  controlled. 
These  facts  are  not  isolated.  Indeed  I  fear  they  are  not  exceptional.  But  they  de¬ 
monstrate  that  on  grounds  of  humanity — and  it  is  the  argument  for  humanity  that  I 
am  trying  to  present — the  time  has  come  when  the  representatives  of  the  people  should 
act.  Longer  delay  is  criminal.  Why,  sir,  if  this  bill  as  it  was  introduced  one  year 
ago  had  then  become  a  law,  and  if  the  bureau  it  contemplates  had  been  organized  by 
a  man  of  genius  and  of  heart — for  both  are  wanted  for  this  work — many  hundreds  of 
lives  would  have  been  saved,  much  gross  injustice  would  have  been  prevented,  and  a 
large  profit  would  have  been  realized  by  the  Government  that  would  have  amply  reim¬ 
bursed  their  entire  outlay.  And  that  brings  me  to  consider  the  object  of  this  bill  as 
connected  with  the  interests  of  the  people  and  of  the  Gonernment.  That  it  is  for  our 
interests,  material,  political,  and  pecuniary,  to  protect  these  men  so  far  as  they  require 
protection,  and  no  further,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  prove.  It  is  almost  to  be  regretted 
that  the  argument  is  so  strong.  The  necessities  of  war  compelled  us  to  make  them 
free.  We  are  entitled  to  a  small  praise  for  that.  And  if  now,  besides  all  reasons  rest¬ 
ing  on  broad  grounds  of  justice  and  humanity,  it  shall  appear  that  a  decent  regard  to 
prudential  and  pecuniary  considerations  requires  just  such  legislaiion  as  we  are  trying 
*o  initiate,  it  will  not  become  us,  I  fear,  to  assume  much  credit  for  a  philanthropy 
which  will  be  profitable  as  well  as  godly ! 

It  would  be  but  fair  in  this  argument  to  credit  the  freedmen  with  one  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  men  in  the  military  service  of  the  Govenrment.  That  number  will  be  doubled 
before  many  months  have  passed.  Every  man  of  them  stands  for  a  son,  a  brother  or  a 
friend.  By  just  so  many  men  our  own  homes  are  the  happier  and  the  more  productive. 
What  would  those  lives  be  worth  to  us  if  we  could  compute  their  value  in  money  ? 
But  it  may  be  said  that  does  not  tend  to  prove  that  a  bureau  is  wanted  :  we  may  take 
all  the  strong  men  that  can  bear  arms  without  being  troubled  with  women  and  children. 
I  do  not  believe  any  gentleman  will  be  found  with  hardihood  enough  to  m-ake  such 
suggestion.  But  it  is  not  true.  How  long  will  those  strong  men  fight  in  our  ranks 
when  it  shall  be  known  to  them  that  the  Government  for  which  they  peril  their  lives 
permits  the  unarmed  freedmen  and  all  the  women  and  children  upon  the  plantations 
of  the  South  ‘to  be  oppressed  ?  These  freedmen  are  men,  and  although  they  have  been 
humbled  by  their  condition  they  have  the  affections  of  men.  They  know  their  value 
to  us,  and  they  know  our  value  to  them  ;  they  will  fight  bravely,  heroically,  to  the 
death.  But  you  may  depend  upon  it  they  will  not  fight,  and  they  ought  not  to  fight, 
if  the  Government  shall  declare  its  policy  to  be  that  plantation  lessees  may  absorb  the 
muscle  and  sinew  and  labor  of  all  who  do  not  fight  but  can  work,  and  that  for  half 
wages  half  paid,  while  they  wage  battle  with  the  rebels  at  the  risk  of  slaughter  upon 
the  field  and  with  the  certainty  of  death  if  captured  by  the  enemy. 

It  is  then  but  fair,  when  we  consider  the  selfish  reasons  urging  us  to  action  in  the 
direction  of  this  bill,  that  we  remember  the  priceless  value  of  these  fighting  men,  and 
that  we  appreciate  the  importance  of  giving  to  them  legislative  assurance  that  those 
who  are  left  at  home  are  not  left  subject  to  the  caprices  and  the  avarice  of  men  who 
regard  them  as  serfs  of,  the  soil,  and  as  instruments  by  which  to  work  'out  their  own 
way  to  fortune. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  uniform  testimony  of  the  men  who  have  witnessed  the  will¬ 
ingness  and  the  ability  of  these  freedmen  by  profitable  employment  demonstrates  that, 
by  judicious  and  timely  aid  and  under  the  supervision  of  superintendents  able  and 
willing  to  “organize  and  direct  their  labor  and  to  adjust  with  them  their  wages,”  the 
liberated  slaves  who  shall  not  have  been  received  into  our  ranks  will  return  to  the 


9 


Government  in  produce  and  in  money  more  than  shall  he  expended  on  their  account. 

At  Fort  Monroe  more  than  a  year  ago  it  was  ascertained  that  although  the  colored 
laborers  employed  by  the  Government  were  paid  less  than  half  the  price  paid  for  the 
same  service  here  at  Washington,  a  sum  not  less  than  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  due 
to  them  for  work.  At  Lawrence  in  Kansas,  where  a  school  for  refugees  had  been  estab¬ 
lished  before  October,  ^862,  a  stranger  who  visited  them  and  saw  the  cleanliness  and 
good  order  that  prevailed  said  to  the  superintendent,  “This  must  have  cost  a  good 
deal  of  money.  ”  “  Not  a  cent,  not  a  cent,  ’ ’  was  the  reply.  ‘ f  These  children  are  dressed 

at  the  expense  of  their  parents  from  the  proceeds  of  their  own  earnings  since  they  have 
been  here.”  These  refugees  had  gone  from  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  There  were  but 
a  few  hundreds,  but  where  they  found  employment  they  accumulated  money  and  pro¬ 
perty  at  once.  But  they  had  required  help.  One  man  of  some  means  had  given  to 
them  orders  for  supplies  to  the  amount  of  five  or  six  hundred  dollars.  But  the  whole 
sum  excepting  eight  dollars  had  been  paid  by  the  refugees  themselves.  Captain  E.  W. 
Hooper,  aid  to  General  Saxton,  one  year  since  wrote  from  Beaufort  that  after  an  expe¬ 
rience  then  of  eight  months  among  the  freedmen  of  South  Carolina,  where  we  know 
that  slavery  has  done  its  worst  to  brutalize  the  master  and  to  enfeeble  its  victims,  and 
with  good  opportunity  tp  observe  the  conduct  of  the  freed  negroes  as  laborers,  it  was 
his  “personal  conviction  that  almost  without  exception  they  would  readily  become  in¬ 
dustrious  and  productive,  laborers  under  any  liberal  system  which  should  offer  a  fair 
and  reasonably  certain  compensation  proportioned  to  the  work  actually  done.”  From 
Craney  Island,  in  Virginia,  from  Helena,  in  Arkansas,  from  St.  Helena  and  ocher  islands 
in  South  Carolina,  the  proof  is  plenary  that  with  judicious  aid  and  under  a  fair  system 
of  labor  and  wages  the  expenses  involved  in  the  first  necessary  outlay  would  be  reim¬ 
bursed  by  the  productive  labor  of  freedmen  within  a  reasonable  period  of  time.  The 
“facts  ”  published  by  the  emancipation  league  and  the  letters  and  reports  to  which  I 
have  already  adverted  permit  us  to  entertain  no  doubt  that  this  bureau  will,  if  placed 
in  the  charge  of  able  and  administrative  men,  be  conducted  substantially  without  cost 
to  the  Government. 

Mr.  CLAY.  I  wish  to  know  whether  the  gentleman  intends  to  include  within  this 
emancipation  bill  the  State  of  Kentucky ;  whether  he  intends  to  trample  under  foot  the 
constitution  of  Kentucky,  and  free  every  slave  without  the  consent  of  their  ownere  ? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  I  am  happy  to  say  to  the  gentleman  that  Kentucky  is  this  time  out  of 
the  ring  altogether.  This  bill  does  not  contemplate  Kentucky  at  all,  and  has  no  refer¬ 
ence  to  it. 

Mr.  CLAY.  I  will  say  that  the  gentleman  goes  so  far  as  not  only  to  take  all  the  ne¬ 
groes  in  the  South,  but  he  is  disposed  to  seize  all  the  lands  in  that  country,  under  the 
idea  that  they  are  abandoned.  I  have  many  constituents  who  hold  property  in  that 
country  who  are  all  loyal  men,  but  who  are  living  in  the  State /of  Kentucky  and  never 
have  lived  in  the  South.  I  wish  to  know  whether  the  lands  of  residents  in  Kentucky 
are  to  be  considered  as  abandoned,  and  hence  to  be  seized  and  disposed  of  under  this 
bill? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Where  do  the  loyal  citizens,  the  constituents  of  the  honorable  gentle 
man,  reside  ? 


Mr.  CLAY.  In  my  district. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Where  are  their  plantations  ? 

Mr.  CLAY.  In  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and  Tennessee. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  And  those  plantations ‘are  owned  by  men  residing  in  the  district  of  my 
honorable  friend  ? 

Mr.  CLAY.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  If  they  are  not  abandoned  plantations  they  do  not  come  at  all  under 
the  range  of  this  law.  If  those  plantations  are  abandoned  I  think  the  honorable  gen¬ 
tleman’s  constituents  are  rebels. 

Mr.  CLAY.  I  go  further,  and  say  that  I  am  the  owner  of  a  plantation  there  myself. 
[Laughter.]  Because  I  am  attending  to  my  duties  here  on  behalf  of  my  constituents 
is  my  plantation  there  to  be  considered  as  abandoned  and  to  come  under  this  law  ? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  No,  sir ;  the  gentleman  is  constructively  upon  his  plantation. 

Mr.  CLAY.  The  overseers'on  those  plantations  have  been  driven  off  by  the  military 
authorities ;  and  are  the  plantations  to  be  seized  as  abandoned  property  on  that  ac¬ 
count  ? 


Mr.  ELIOT.  Why  did  they  not  remain  upon  their  property  if  they  were  loyal  men  ? 
If  they  were  rebels  they  have  probably  gone  South  and  are  in  the  ranks  of  the  rebel¬ 
lion.  But  the  desertion  by  the  overseer  does  not  leave  the  gentleman’s  farm  “aban¬ 
doned.” 


Mr.  CLAY.  They  have  gone  off  because  the  law  did  not  prote«t  them  on  their  plan¬ 
tations.  I  was  myself  in  Kentucky,  and  had  to  go  over  into  Ohio  for  protection. 


10 

Mr.  ELIOT.  If  the  owners  of  these  plantations  are  rebels,  we  will  take  their  slaves 
if  we  can,  and  take  earo  of  them  until  they  can  contribute  to  their  own  support. 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  I  desire  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  whether,  under 
the  sixth  section  of  this  act,  abandoned  plantations  in  Kentucky,  Maryland,  or  any  one 
of  the  slave  States,  may  not  be  subject  to  colonisation  and  settlement  through  the 
agency  of  the  commission  ?  I  call  his  attention  to  the  proposed  amendment  to  the 
sixth  section,  which  expressly  provides  for  colonization  on  these  plantations  which  have 
been  abandoned,  without  making  any  distinction  between  loyal  and  disloyal  slave 
States. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  If  I  understand  the  inquiry  of  the  gentleman  from  Indiana,  it  is 
whether,  under  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  some  portion  of  the  State  of  Kentuoky  may 
not  be  taken  as  colony  ground.  No,  sir  ;  it  may  not  be.  This  bill  proposes  no  such 
scheme. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  wish  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky - 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Massachusetts,  sir. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  beg  pardon  of  Kentucky,  and  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachu¬ 
setts.  [Laughter.]  I  w ish  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  whether,  when 
he  made  the  remark  just  now  that  Kentucky  was  out  of  the  ring  for  the  present,  he 
intended  to  bring  Kentucky  into  the  ring,  and  how,  and  when  ? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  I  should  like  right  well  to  answer  that  question,  but  it  will  take  a  little 
time.  It  is  a  mere  matter  of  personal  opinion  that  the  gentleman  inquires  about,  how 
long  it  would  be  before  I  should  want  to  bring  Kentuoky  into  the  ring,  and  what  I 
would  do  with  her.  I  have  no  sort  of  objection  to  answer  the  gentleman’s  question. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  want  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  whether  he  wants 
to  confiscate  the  landed  estate  of  my  colleague  [Mr.  Clay]  in  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
knowing  my  colleague  to  be  a  Union  man  ?  Is  he  willing  that  this  bill  shall  so  operate 
as  to  call  my  colleague’s  property  in  Mississippi  abandoned  property,  and  to  have  that 
property  taken  and  settled  by  freedmen,  perhaps  the  slaves  of  my  colleague  ? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Certainly  not,  sir.  Certainly  not.  We  are  kind-hearted  people  on 
t^jis  side  of  the  House. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  The  gentleman’s  bill  does  that  very  thing. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Oh  no,  sir.  I  pray  you  read  it. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  have  read  it,  and  I  think  the  gentleman  himself  does  not  clearly 
comprehend  it. 

Mr.  KNAPP.  If  I  understand  the  gentleman,  he  claims  that  it  is  not  proposed  that 
this  bill  shall  not  operate  in  the  State  of  Kentucky  at  all. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  No,  sir,  it  does  not. 

Mr.  KNAPP.  I  call  the  attention  of  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  to  that  part 
of  the  sixth  section  which  gives  the  commissioners  power  to  permit  persons  of  African 
descent,  and  persons  who  are,  or  shall  have  become,  free,  to  occupy, ’cultivate,  and  im¬ 
prove,  all  lands  lying  within  those  districts  now  or  heretofore  in  rebellion,  and  all  real 
estate  to  which  the  United  States  shall  have  acquired  title.  Now,  under  the  operations 
of  the  various  confiscation  laws,  the  United  States  may  acquire  title  to  lands  in  Ken¬ 
tucky,  and  I  desire  to  know  from  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  whether  this  hill 
is  not  intended  to  operate  on  these  lands. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  I  ask  tho  gentleman  whether  he  intends  to  say  that  the  State  of  Ken¬ 
tucky  is  in  rebellion  ? 

Mr.  KNAPP.  No;  but  I  understand  that  a  good  many  of  the  citizens  of  Kentucky 
have  joined  the  rebellion,  and  that  their  property  in  Kentucky  is  liable  to  confiscation. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  another  view  to  take  of  this  question  of  expense. 
There  has  not  been  a  day  since  the  fortunes  of  war  first  opened  to  the  slave  his  way  to 
freedom  when  there  have  not  come  to  our  forts  and  military  camps  and  within  our 
lines,  everywhere  when  fort  or  camp  or  line  was  accessible,  men  and  women,  old  and 
young,  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  healthy  and  strong,  disabled  and  infirm.  Every¬ 
where  our  banner  has  been  raised  the  fugitives  have  tended  toward  it  as  the  needle 
turns  towards  its  pole.  And  the^  have  come  under  the  stars  of  onr  flag  with  the  faith 
of  the  mariner, who  holds  his  helm  so  that  liis  disabled  bark  may  keep  its  coarse  north¬ 
ward  although  the  tempest  shall  threaten  and  darkness  is  all  around  him,  for  he  knows 
right  well  that  above  the  storm  the  north  star  is  shining  and  will  guide  him  safely  to  his 
home.  When  they  began  to  come,  General  Butler  received  and  retained  them,  for 
they  were  “  contraband  of  war.” 

In  old  England,  when,  by  mischanee,  a  man  was  killed,  the  thing  that  caused  his 
death  was  held  sacred,  and  called  “deodand.”  The  Union  “as  it  was”  has  been 
dashed  against  the  slave  and  destroyed.  Let  the  slave  be  “  deodand”  forever,  for  he 
has  been  forfeited  to  God  !  But  coming  as  these  slaves  did  before  proclamation  or  con¬ 
fiscation  acts,  onr  Government  has  been  compelled  to  take  them,  to  feed  them,  to  clothe 
them,  to  shelter  them,  and  they  still  come,  and  they  would  come  without  proclamation 


11 

or  law.  They  hail  oar  successful  generals  as  angels  of  deliverance,  and  when  the  Ga- 
fena  chieftain,  who  is  sometimes  alluded  to  on  this  floor  by  his  irrepressible  Representa¬ 
tive,  shall  advance  again  bis  conquering  armies,  ho  will  hear  sounding  through  rice 
field  and  cane-brake  and  savanna  and  swamp,  hearty  and  earnest  hosannas  to  Univer¬ 
sal  Salvation  Grant  l  These  freedmen  must  live  at  the  Government  charge  until  they 
are  permitted  to  support  themselves.  Wo  cannot  help  it.  We  have  not  been  able 
from  the  beginning  to  avoid  it.  In  Virginia  and  Maryland  and  North  Carolina  and  all 
down  the  Mississippi,  and  upon  the  sea  islands  of  the  South,  the  same  oauses  have 
operated  and  the  same  results  have  followed.  We  have  no  means  of  knowing  until  the 
facts  can  be  gathered  from  the  different  military  departments  how  many  rations  or  what 
other  aid  it  has  been  necessary  to  provide  for  refugees  from  bondage.  It  ought,  indeed, 
to  be  stated  that  such,  aid  has  been  given  not  only  to  colored  refugees,  but  to  the  “poor 
whites  ”  to  keep  them  from  starvation.  In  the  report  of  Messrs.  Owen,  McKay,  and 
Howe  to  the  War  Department,  it  is  said  that — 

“In  November  last  General  Butler  was  feeding  in  New  Orleans  thirty-two  thousand 
“whites,  seventeen  thousand  of  whom  were  British  born,  and  only  ten  thousand  ne- 
1 1  groes  ;  these  last  chiefly  women  and  children,  the  able-bodied  negro  men  being  usu- 
“  ally  employed  on  abandoned  plantations.  Nor  where  relief  has  been  required,  by 
“both  whites  and  blacks  have  the  latter  usually  applied  for  or  received  in  proportion 
“  to  their  number  nearly  as  much  as  the  former.  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer,  appointed  by 
; {  General  Burnside  at  Newborn,  North  Carolina,  superintendent  of  the  poor,  white  and 
‘  black,  reports  that  while  seven  thousand  five  hundred  oolored  persona  and  eighteen 
“hundred  white  persona  received  relief,”  *  *  *  “the  average 

‘ 1  proportion  dealt  out  ”  *  *  *  “  was  about  as  one  to  each  col- 

“  ored  person  to  sixteen  for  each  white  person.  At  the  time  this  occurred,  work  wan 
1 1  offered  to  both  blacks  and  whites — to  the  whites  at  the  rate  of  twelve  dollars  a 
“  month,  and  to  the  blacks  at  the  rate  of  eight  dollars  a  month.” 

It  is  also  true  that  no  needless  expense^has  been  inourred.  Captain  Hooper,  in  speak¬ 
ing  of  the  department  of  the  South,  says  : 

“  Where  the  Government  has  been  obliged  to  support  destitute  contrabands  it  has 
1 *  issued  only  such  portions  of  the  Army  rations  as  were  absolutely  necessary  to  sup- 
“  port  life.  No  fair-minded  man  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  the  ca^e  can  say  that 
“  in  this  department  they  have  so  far  been  a  great  burden  to  such  a  Government  as 
“  our.” 

I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  in  any  of  our  departments  aid  has  been  given  where 
it  was  not  necessary. 

But  the  point  I  make  is  that  large  expenses  are  now  incurred.  And  it  i3  impossible 
to  prevent  this  change  from  being  continued  needlessly  unless  the  Government  shall 
take  this  matter  in  hand  and  by  its  own  organized  and  systematic  action  enable  the 
freedmen  to  support  themselves.  The  sooner  this  bureau  is  efficiently  established,  the 
sooner  that  expense  will  be  avoided. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  not  possible  that  the  work  of  this  bureau  can  be  properly  per¬ 
formed  by  any  agency  except  that  of  the  Government.  The  argument  on  this  point  is 
well  stated  in  the  letter  to  the  President  from  the  freedmen’s  societies  of  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Cincinnati : 

“There  is  not  yet  in  the  public  mind  any  duly  awakened  sense  of  the  magnitude  of 
'  ‘  the  negro  question,  as  for  two  years  there  was  not  of  the  war  itself.  The  Government 
1 1  must  know,  even  better  than  the  people,  what  the  vastness  of  the  question  is,  and  is  it 
*  *  not  proper  for  us  to  ask  if,  Mr.  President,  the  Government  is  doing,  or  preparing  to  do, 

1 1  what  is  necessary  to  meet  it ;  to  reduce  the  evils  connected  with  emancipation  to  their 
“lowest  point,  and  to  elevate  its  blessings  to  the  highest ;  to  establish  a  system,  care- 
1 1  fully  considered  and  adapted,  and  executed  with  energy  and  zeal,  for  the  thorough 
“  and  general  dealing  with  the  freedmen?  It  is  plain  to  us,  with  our  experience,  that 
“the  question  is  too  large  for  anything  short  of  Government  authority,  Government 
“resources,  and  Government  ubiquity  to  deal  with.  The  plans,  the  means,  the  agen- 
“  cies  within  any  volunteer  control  are  insignificant  in  their  adequacy  to  the  vastness 
“  of  the  demand-  Our  relief  associations  have  discharged  ther  highest  duty  in  testing 
“  many  of  the  most  doubtful  questions  touching  the  negroes’  ability  and  willingness 
“  to  come  under  direction  when  direction  has  lost  its  authoritative  character.  They 
“have  proved  the  freedman’s  diligence,  docility,  and  loyalty,  his  intelligence  and  value 
“  as  a  laborer.  They  have  alleviated  much  want  and  misery  also.  But  wore  their  re- 
“  sources  ten  times  what  they  are,  and  ten  times  what  they  can  he  made,  they  would 
“  be  no  substitute  for  the  governmental  watchfulness  a:*d  provision  which  so  numerous 
“a  race  under  such  extraordinary  circumstances  requires.  In  our  judgment  the  pre- 
“  sent  and  future  of  the  freedmen  demands  a  kind  and  degree  of  study,  of  guidance, 

‘ 1  and  of  aid,  which  it  is  in  th8  nature  of  things  impossible  the  Government  should 
“  give  indirectly,  or  by  means  of  any  existing  bureau  or  combination  of  bureaus.  The 


12 

“case  is  large  enough,  serious  enough,  urgent  enough,  involving  the  nation’s  interest, 
“its  humanity,  the  respect  of  the  people  for  the  Administration,  and  our  reputation 
44  throughout  the  world,  to  require  the  best  ability  the  country  offers,  organized  in  a  reg- 
“  ularly  constituted  Government  bureau,  with  all  the  military  and  civil  powers  of  the 
4  4  Government  behind  it,  with  all  the  existing  machinery  of  transportation,  commissary 
44  stores,  and  quartermaster’s  facilities,  with  all  the  omnipresence  of  the  national  agen- 
44  cies  co-ordinated  and  brought  to  bear  upon  the  treatment  of  the  case. 

44  We  ask,  then,  your  interposition  with  Congress,  recommending  the  immediate 
44  creation  of  a  Bureau  of  Emancipation,  charged  with  the  study  of  plans  and  the  exe¬ 
cution  of  measures  for  easing,  guiding,  and  in  every  way  judiciously  and  humanely 
“aiding  the  passage  of  our  emancipated  and  yet  to  be  emancipated  blacks  from  their 
4  4  old  condition  of  forced  labor  to  their  new  state  of  voluntary  industry. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  not  at  this  time  discuss  at  length  the  brief  and  simple  provisions 
of  this  bill.  The  duties  imposed  on  the  commissioner  are  large,  but  not  more  so  than 
is  necessary  to  make  the  bureau  effective.  It  is  connected  with  the  War  Department 
for  obvious  reasons.  From  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  the  military  power  which 
effected  the  freedom  of  the  slave  has  been  invoked  for  his  protection.  The  power  of 
the  War  Department  is  required  to  command  respect  and  obedience  where  rebellion  has 
so  recently  had  control.  In  fact,  most  that  has  hitherto  been  accomplished  to  organize 
and  adjust  labor,  excepting  the  action  under  the  tax  act  of  June,  1862,  has  been  done 
under  authority  and  pursuant  to  orders  which  have  emanated  from  that  Department, 
and  for  the  present  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  functionaries  employed  should  find 
their  official  chief  in  the  Secretary  of  War. 

Sir,  my  duty  will  not  have  been  performed  without  stating  distinctly  the  clear  con¬ 
stitutional  power  of  Congress  to  legislate  in  the  direction  of  this  bill. 

First,  by  the  Constitution  the  President  is  made  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States.  He  has,  therefore,  in  time  of  war  all  the  powers  which 
by  the  recognized  laws  of  war  are  conferred  upon  that  high  office.  Such  powers  are  as 
constitutional  as  that  to  appoint  an  embassador  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  or  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

By  the  rebellion  the  war  powers  of  the  President  and  Congress  have  been  invoked 
and  are  in  force  ;  among  them  the  power  to  liberate  the  slaves  of  the  enemy  is  one  of 
the  most  efficient  and  humane.  That  has  been  used.  But  the  power  to  liberate  three 
million  slaves  involves  the  duty  of  their  needful  protection.  Without  that  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  the  power  to  liberate  might  be  a  crime.  Such  protection  by  the  Government 
whichmade  free  cannot  be  given  without  the  action  of  Congress.  Without  that  the  power 
of  the  President  cannot  be  carried  into  effect.  By  the  direct  terms  of  the  Constitution 
Congress  has  power  to  make  all  laws  necessary  to  carry  into  execution  all  the  powers 
conferred  upon  the  President. 

Secondly,  Congress  has  power  to  declare  war  and  to  44  make  rules  concerning  captures 
on  land.”  The  slaves  liberated  by  the  confiscation  act,  and  to  be  liberated  by  its  pro¬ 
visions,  are  captives  of  war,  and  as  such  are  proper  subjects  of  our  legislation. 

Thirdly,  Congress  has  power  4 4  to  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of 
the  land  and  naval  forces.”  Legislation  has  become  necessary  and  laws  have  been 
passed  to  regulate  the  conduct  of  the  Army  in  regard  to  slaves  found  in  the  enemy’s 
country,  and  to  prohibit  our  officers  from  returning  them  to  slavery.  But  those  laws 
would  be  imperfect  in  their  operation  and  might  be  oppressive  in  their  results  without 
further  legislation  ;  and  so  a  necessity  has  arisen  for  an  act  to  protect  the  freedmen. 

Fourthly,  the  President,  as  Commander-in-Chief,  has  a  right  to  issue  all  proclama¬ 
tions,  as  recognized  by  the  laws  of  war,  addressed  to  the  public  enemy.  The  faith  of  the 
nation  is  pledged  to  make  good  those  proclamations,  to  maintain  their  provisions,  and 
to  fulfill  the  pledges  which  they  contain  or  by  necessity  imply.  The  proclamation  of 
freedom  has  liberated  men  oppressed  by  a  life-servitude.  Those  men  are  now  subjects 
of  the  Government.  They  owe  to  it  allegiance,  and  are  as  such  entitled  to  its  protec¬ 
tion.  To  that  end  this  legislation  is  required. 

Upon  all  these  grounds  this  bill  may  securely  rest.  But  if  all  proclamations  were 
wrong  and  all  laws  were  without  constitutional  support  which  have  sought  to  liberate 
the  slaves  of  enemies,  still  the  rebellion  itself  has  freed  them  and  they  are  subjects  of 
our  charge.  We  must  protect  them  or  be  faithless  in  our  office. 

And  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  stated  the  imperative  necessity  of  this  bill,  the  high 
objects  which  it  would  accomplish,  its  brief  provisions,  and  its  legal  right  to  our  support. 
It  remains  to  discuss  its  expected  benefits  to  the  freedmen  and  to  ourselves.  But 
first  I  would  invoke  the  attention  of  the  House  to  a  report  submitted  by  the  honorable 
gentlemen  from  New  York,  [Mr.  Kalbfleisch,  ]  and  signed  by  him  and  by  his  colleague 
on  the  committe,  [Mr.  Knapp,  ]  in  opposition  to  this  bill,  for  it  assumes  to  present  the 
argument  against  the  legal  power  of  Congress  to  legislate  and  against  the  expediency  of 
our  present  action.  Its  formidable  exordium  is  worthy  of  note  : 


13 

‘ ‘  That  a  careful  examination  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  under  consideration  has 
“convinced  your  committee  that  it  not  only  involves  grave  and  important  questions, 
“but  likewise  a  task  of  great  magnitude  to  overcome  the  legal  and  apparently  just  ob¬ 
jections  which  arise  upon  a  fair  scrutiny  of  its  contents.  Humanity  may  be  pleaded 
“in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  bill,  but  great  caution  will  have  to  be  exercised,  not 
‘‘‘only  that  the  plea  be  well  founded,  but  that  no  unintentional  injustice  be  perpe- 
‘  ‘  trated  thereby.  ’  ’ 

One  may  feel  justified  in  approaching  with  some  timidity  an  argument  thus  heralded. 
But  there  need  be  no  fear.  These  four  questions  are  proposed  for  discussion  : 

“1.  Has  Congress  the  legal  power  to  establish  a  bureau  for  the  purposes  contem- 
‘  ‘  plated  in  the  bill ;  and  are  the  matters  intended  to  be  legislated  upon  within  the 
“province  of  and  of  a  character  to  make  them  proper  subjects  for  national  legisla¬ 
tion.” 

“2.  Has  Congress  the  constitutional  power  to  impose  a  tax  upon  the  citizens  of  one 
‘  ‘  State  to  support  the  indigent  freedmen  of  another  State,  no  matter  how  humane  and 
“  charitable  the  motives  prompting  the  act  ?”• 

“3.  Will  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  question  produce  the  effect  intended  or  desired? 
‘  ‘  May  not  results  directly  opposite  from  |hose  anticipated  by  its  friends  flow  from  it, 
“  and  a  new  system  of  vassalage,  only  differing  in  its  appellation  with  the  one  hitherto 
“existing  between  the  freedmen  and  their  masters,  be  inaugurated  ?” 

“4.  Should  not  the  bureau,  if  established,  be  under  the  control  and  direction  of  the 
“Department  of  the  Interior,  instead  of  the  War  Department  ?  ” 

It  would  be  a  figure  of  speech  which  I  am  not  bold  enough  to  use,  to  say  that  these 
questions  are  argued.  The  legal  argument  upon  the  first  two  propositions  is  disposed 
of  summarily.  This  is  it : 

“  Your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  Congress  has  no  legal  power  to  carry  into  effect 
“  all  the  provisions  of  the  contemplated  bill.  A  plea  of  humanity,  policy,  or  war  ne- 
‘  ‘  cecessity  may  be  urged  in  favor  of  assuming  the  power,  and  a  forced  construction 
“  placed  upon  the  plain  letter  of  the  Constitution  to  sanction  the  act.  But  a  great 
‘  ‘  stretch  of  power  and  an  unwarranted  perversion  of  the  language  of  the  fundamental 
“law  will  have  to  be  resorted  to  in  this  instance  to  attain  this  end.” 

But  the  minority  of  the  committee  da  not  deem  it  to  be  worth  thfir  while  to  state 
the  grounds  of  their  opinion,  or  any  reasons  or  authority  in  its  behalf.  The  Command- 
er-in-Chief  lias  used  the  power  of  war  to  declare  freedom  to  the  slaves  of  enemies. 
Had  he  a  right  to  do  so  ?  The  minority  of  the  committee  do  not  deny  it.  Laws  of 
Congress  have  been  passed  to  the  same  end.  But  the  validity  of  these  laws  is  not 
brought  in  question.  The  fact  exists  that  a  nation  of  freedmen  has  been  created,  and 
that  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children,  who  had  been  in  slavery 
are  now  within  our  lines  and  under  our  protection,  and  that  they  must  be  at  Govern¬ 
ment  charge  until  aided  to  self-support.  The  great  question  is  not  approached.  But 
the  “  committee  fail  to  comprehend  ”  “why  the  freedmen  of  African  descent  should 
become  these  marked  objects  of  special  legislation  to  the  detriment  of  the  unfortunate 
whites.”  These  freedmen  when  in  slavery  composed  the  working  power  of  the  rebel¬ 
lion.  That  power  has  been  wrested  from  the  enemy  so  far  as  the  proclaimed  free¬ 
dom  has  been  enforced.  We  have  a  right  to  make  that  power  available  to  ourselves. 
But  to  this  end  legislation  is  required.  This  is  one  reason.  After  a  life  of  servitude, 
inherited  from  slave  ancestors  stolen  from  their  homes  and  subjected  by  force  to  tho 
control  of  their  masters,  these  freedmen  thus  invited  to  freedom  for  our  own  security, 
and  recognized  as  men,  have  this  right,  which  will  not  be  denied  by  any  theorist  of  any 
party  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  right  to  earn  among  us  their  own  subsistence.  To  that  end 
this  legislation  is  required. 

But  to  what  “detriment”  of  what  unfortunate  whites  ?  ”  The  burden  of  their 
support  is  now  on  the  Government  and  must  be  borne,  and  if  a  “  tax  upon  the  labor 
of  the  poor  ”  is  the  detriment  and  the  “ less  favored  white  men  ”  are  the  “unfortu¬ 
nate  whites  ”  referred  to  by  the  report,  who  must  bear  the  tax  ?  Then  let  this  bureau 
be  quickly  organized,  for  so  the  burden  will  be  at  once  lifted  up  and  the  “detriment  ” 
be  converted  into  profit.  It  is  objected  to  this,  bill  that  its  ‘.‘machinery”  is  insuffi¬ 
cient,  and  that  it  will  be  well  to  leave  it  with  its  originators  until  an  intelligent  and 
well-defined  system  has  been  matured.  Then  let  the  objectors  suggest  more  operative 
machinery,  and  by  judicious  amendments  perfect  the  system.  Men,  who  know  by 
study  and  by  sight  the  wants  of  the  freedmen  and  of  the  Government,  have  carefully 
examined  the  provisions  of  this  bill.  The  “machinery”  by  which  this  bureau  will 
become  most  useful  and  effective  must  be  made  in  the  light  of  experience  and  by  judi¬ 
cious  and  wise  men,  mindful  equally  of  the  rights  of  the  Government  and  the  neces¬ 
sities  of  the  freedmen.  A  detailed  system  of  government  embodied  in  this  organic  law 
would  be  unwise  and  prejudicial  to  all  the  interests  concerned.  But  two  gentlemen, 
who  represent  the  minority  of  the  committee,  say  : 


u 

■  ‘If  these freedmen  of  African  descent  are  still  slaves,  and  the  Government  have  in- 
‘ 4  herited  or  taken  by  conquest  the  position  of  their  masters,  they  are  of  course  liable 
“  to  be  separated  from  the  free  population,  have  their  tasks  assigned  them,  and  their 
“wages  controlled  and  established  by  the  representatives  of  their  masters ;  but  if  the 
44  presidential  proclamation  has  had  any  effect,  and  if  they  are  freedmen  in  anything 
4  ‘  else  but  in  name,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
“  States  and  of  the  several  States  prescribes  that  jurisdiction  over  most  of  the  subjects 
44  mentioned  in  the  bill  shall  be  vested  in  the  judiciary.” 

Mr.  KALBFLEISCH.  Do  1  understand  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  to  say 
that  only  two  members  of  the  committee  dissented  from  the  majority  report  ? 

Mr.  ELIOT.  I  say  so. 

Mr.  KALBFLEISCH.  That  is  not  my  understanding.  Tbe  gentleman  from  New 
Jersey  [Mr.  Middubtobt]  was  not  present  in  committee,  but  I  believe  he  coincides  with 
our  views. 

Mr.  ELIOT.  The  gentleman  from  New  Jersey  is  present  now,  and  can  contradict  my 
statement  if  it  is  not  correct. 

What  does  this  mean  ?  This  hill  does  not  seek  to  separate  the  freedmen  from  the 
free  population,  or  to  assign  them  tasks,  or  to  oontrol  and  establish  wages.  But  assum¬ 
ing  the  effectiveness  of  the  proclamation,  on  what  does  the  * 4  opinion  ”  rest  that  the  con¬ 
stitutions  of  the  several  States  vest  in  the  judiciary  “jurisdiction  over  most  of  the 
subjects  mentioned  in  the  hill?  ”  What  constitutions  and  what  States  are  referred  to  ? 
Is  the  sovereign  State  of  South  Carolina  one  of  them  ?  But  the  report  finds  that  too 
many  clerks  may  be  appointed  at  Washington  ;  that  in  fact  they  may  be  appointed 
without  any  limitation  as  to  number  “except  that  they  are  restricted  to  two  in  a  class, 
but  without  any  limitation  as  to  the  number  of  classes.”  The  “careful  examination  ” 
which  the  minority  of  the  committee  have  given  to  this  matter  has  failed  to  inform 
them  that  there  are  just  four  classes  of  clerks,  and  that  two  of  each  class  would  there¬ 
fore  give  eight  clerks  precisely,  if  the  whole  number  authorized  by  the  bill  should  TO 
appointed.  “It  appears,”  argues  the  report,  “  depending  entirely  upon  the  necessity 
existing  in  his  mind  whether”  “the  power  of  disposing”  of  “  these  freedmen  ma^r 
net  revive  most  of  the  odious  features  of  slavery  without  its  name.  This  argument 
defies  analysis,  and  cannot  be  made  more  clear  than  by  its  statement ;  but  it  was  not 
quite  fair  to  refrain  from  showing  how  it  appears  that  such  contingency  might  depend 
on  such  necessity  existing  in  the  mind  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

But  the  minority  of  the  committee  feel  it  to  he  right  to  say  : 

4  4  Under  the  provisions  of  the  hill  the  freedman  may  be  as  effectually  stripped  of  the 
“proceeds  of  his  labor  to  build  up  the  fortunes  of  an  avaricious  superintendent  as 
4  4  though  lie  were  under  the  control  of  a  master,  without  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the 
“protection  and  support  the  system  of  slavery  affords.” 

This  gratuitous  statement  is  without  justice  or  fairness,  or  foundation  in  fact.  Under 
the  fair  administration  of  this  bureau  no  superintendent  can  oppress  the  freedman  for 
personal  gain.  This  must  have  been  obvious  if  examination  had  been  given  to  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  the  bill.  Tbe  criticism  is  not  true.  But  this  remarkable  report  proceeds  to 
say  : 

“  Large  [sections  of  rebel  slave  territory  have  been  brought  within  the  military 
“  power  of  onr  Government ;  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  still  larger  portions  #f  such 
“  territory  will  be  added  thereto.  Your  committee  cannot  conceive  of  any  reason  why 
44  this  vast  domain,  paid  for  by  the  blood  of  white  men,  should  he  set  apart  for  the  sole 
4-‘  benefit  of  the  freedmen  of  African  descent,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  and  leased 
“for  an  unlimited  time,  thereby  preventing  its  occupation,  except  by  them,  at  least 
“  for  a  long  time  to  come.  It  seems  to  your  committee  incomprehensible,  nay,  ex- 
“  tremely  unjust.” 

What  seems  “incomprehensible,  nay,  extremely  unjust  f”  These  gentlemen  e&nnot 
conceive  of  any  reason  why  thi3  domain  should  he  set  apart  for  the  exclusive  benefit 
of  freedmen  !  But  why  complain  because  of  that  inability  ?  This  hill  does  not  tax 
their  power  in  that  direction.  Such  proposed  use  of  these  lauds  would  be  simple 
enough  and  44  comprehensible,”  whether  just  or  unjust,  hut  the  proposition  before  the 
House  involves  tbe  consideration  of  no  such  question. 

The  report  of  the  minority  becomes  more  unfair  as  it  draws  to  its  close.  It  says  : 

“  The  bill  proposes  to  give  to  each  petty  superintendent  the  determination  of  ail  quo* 
“tions  relating  to  the  disposition  and  direction  of  all  persons^©!  African  descent  beoom- 
“  ing  free  under  any  proclamation,  military  rule  or  order,  or  by  any  act  of  the  State 
“  governments,  with  power  to  establish  and  enforce  regulations  such  as  may  be  deemed 
“  proper  for  the  judicious  treatment  and  disposition  of  such  freedmen,  and  with  power 
44  to  assign  lands,  &o.  An  institution  like  this,  which  assumes  the  functions  of  fche 
“  judiciary  over  a  large  portion  of  the  population,  and  combines  with  it  the  domestic 
“  management  of  the  ffSedman,  cannot  be  carried  out  without  spreading  a  network  of 


15 

‘'officials  over  all  the  conquered  States,  ’as  numerous  as  the  slavemasters  whom  this 
“  system,  supersedes.” 

The  bill  proposes  no  such  thing.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  one  of  fair  intelligence 
could  examine  its  provisionsjand  make  such  a  statement.  But  it  is  as  difficult  to  believe 
that  an  honorable  opponent  could  make  it  without  examination.  Upon  this  point  the 
bill  shall  speak  for  itself.  The  President  is  empowered  to  appoint,  with  the  adviee  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  a  “  Commissioner  of  Freedmen's  Affairs” — 

44  To  whom  shall  be  referred  the  adjustment  and  determination,  under  the  direction  of 
i:the  Secretary  of  War,  of  all  questions  arising  under  this  act,  or  under  any  laws  now 
4  4  existing  or  hereafter  to  be  enacted,  concerning  persons  of  African  descent  and  persons 
44  who  are  or  shall  become  free  by  virtue*  of  any  proclamation,  law,  or  military  order 
“issued,  enacted,  or  promulgated  during  the  present  rebellion,  or  by  virtue  of  any  act 
44of  emancipation  which  shall  be  enaoted  by  any  State  for  the  freedom  of  such  persons 
4i  held  to  service  or  labor  within  such  State,  or  who  shall  be  otherwise  entitled  to  their 
44  freedom.  And  the  said  Commissioner  shall  have  authority,  under  the  direction  of  the 
“  Secretary  of  War,  to  mftke  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  for  the  general  superin - 
“tendence,  direction,  and  management  of  all  such  persons,  and  to  appoint  a  chief  clerk 
44  who  shall  be  also  a  bonded  disbursing  officer,  and  shall  have  an  annual  salary  of 
44 $2,000  and  such  number  of  clerks,  not  exceeding  two  of  each  class,  as  shall  be  n«- 
“oessary  for  the  proper  transaction  of  the  business  of  said  bureau. 

The  closing  paragraphs  of  this  report  are  as  follows  : 

4  4  Could  this  at  once  be  made  a  self-sustaining  system,  to  be  supported  by  the  labor 
“which  it  controls  and  direots,  and  for  whose  benefit  it  is  intended  to  act,  there  might 
“  be  a  semblance  of  propriety  and  justice  in  its  proposed  inauguration.  But  if  it  is  to 
4  4  be  converted  into  a  grand  almshouse  department,  whereby  the  labor  and  proper!  y  of 
“the  white  population  of  the  country  is  to  be  taxed  to  support  the  pauper  labor  of  the 
“freedmen  and  mendicant  officials  of  the  oountry,  its  operations  cannot  be  too  closely 
4  4  scrutinized. 

44  The  Government  have  as  yet  been  rather  unfortunate  in  their  efforts  in  behalf  of 
“the  freed  slaves,  and  it  seems  to  your  committee  to  he  very  desirable  that  legislation 
44 upon  this  subject,  if  it  can  be  done  legally,  should  be  confined  to  the  absolute  exist¬ 
ing  wants  of  the  country.  After  the  transition  state  through  which  we  are  now 
4 4  passing  shall  have  ended,  aud  the  character  and  position  of  this  class  of  our  popula¬ 
tion  shall  have  become  better  defined,  the  rights  of  the  Government  to  the  title  of 
4  4  the  confiscated  property  determined  by  competent  authority,  it  will  be  time  enough 
4  4  to  initiate  a  system  adapted  to  their  wants  and  capacities,  and  calculated  for  their 
4  4  protection  and  humane  treatment.  ’  * 

How  can  this  system  be  made  self-sustaining  until  it  is  inaugurated*  \Ye  have  no 
doubt,  and  the  minority  of  the  committee  do  not  deny,  that  the  labor  for  whose  benefit 
it  is  proposed  to  act  will  support  this  bureau.  Its  propriety  and  justice  will  then  be 
vindicated  upon  industrial  and  material  grounds  as  fully  as  upon  grounds  of  humanity 
its  necessity  is  now  apparent.  Of  course  its  operations  must  be  closely  scrutinized  if 
it  is  converted  into  an  44  almshouse  department.”  But  the  scrutiny  will  be  in  season 
when  the  conversion  is  apprehended.  But  what  if  it  he  true  that  Government  has  been 
unfortunate  in  its  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  freed  slaves  ?  The  Government  has  done 
what  it  could.  But  Congress  has  done  nothing.  The  fact  asserts  the  need -of  action, 
at  once  and  effective,  that  such  reproach  shall  be  removed.  Let  legislation  be  confined 
to  the  “absolute  existing  wants  of  the  country.”  Thai  is  all  we  propose.  But  that 
which  is  demanded  should  be  had  without  delay. 

Is  it  true,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  we  should  wait  until  the  quiet  of  peace  shall  have  hush¬ 
ed  the  echoes  of  this  war  before  we  initiate  any  system  adapted  to  the  wants  and  ca¬ 
pacities  of  these  freedmen  ?  What  can  there  he  in  the  44  character  and  position  of  this 
class  of  our  population  ”  that  needs  to  he  defined  before  we  act?  Their  “character  ” 
is  not  unknown  to  us.  Their  social  degradation  compelled  by  slavery,  their  trustful 
nature,  their  thirst  for  knowledge,  their  willingness  to  work  for  the  wages  of  labor, 
their  yearning  after  what  the  white,  man  also  covets — position,  and  property  which  will  se¬ 
cure  position — we  know  these  things.  But  we  do  not  know,  and  shall  not  until  we 
give  them  the  rights  of  men,  what  are  their  full  capacities  for  that  life  which  is  above 
the  material  life  aud  that  “pursuit  of  happiness  ”  which  aims  at  ends  beyond  the 
horizon  which  slavery  defines. 

But  what  shall  be  done  before  that  time  arrives  ?  Is  it  the  purpose  of  these  gentle¬ 
men  and  of  those  who  act  with  them  in  this  House  that  our  Government  shall  maintain 
these  freedmen  without  system  and  at  unlimited  and  indefinite  cost,  furnishing  rations 
and  hospital  supplies  and  clothing,  and  keeping  them  in  camps  under  military  rules  ? 
If  this  were  possible  Is  it  wise?  And  when  the  time  shall  have  come  at  which  the 
gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr.  KjLtBFLEiBon]  suggests  that  a  system  for  their  humane 
treatment  may  be  Jautlated  will  it  be  more  lawful  or  constitutional  to  act  then  than 


now  ?  Why,  sir,  the  case  is  too  plain  for  argument  Now  is  the  accepted  time.  And 
this  Congress  will  bear  the  deserved  reproach,  not  only  of  this  great-hearted  nation, 
but  of  all  nations  of  Christian  men,  if  we  falter  in  this  work. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  has  somewhat  appeared  already  how  the  parties  to  this  bill  will  be 
the  better  for  the  law.  But  I  would  take  a  wider  view  of  this  grand  work  which  the 
war  has  put  upon  us.  From  its  commencement  no  man  has  been  able  to  anticipate 
events.  Nothing  has  occurred  as  the  wisest  seer  predicted.  Great  generals  have 
failed,  and  men  unknown  to  fame  before  have  conducted  us  to  victory.  Battles  have 
been  won  in  the  valleys  and  “above  the  cloud  ”  by  a  rank  and  file  bravery  which  the 
annals  of  military  history  cannot  rival.  Who  of  us  has  not  had  occasion  to  say,  “  Not 
unto  us,  but  unto  Thee,  0  God!  be  rendered  the  praise  !  ” 

C  And  now  out  of  the  war  a  new  nation  of  men  has  arisen.  No  power  in  Constitution, 
in  President,  or  in  people  outside  of  the  rebel  States  could  have  held  out  to  them  its 
liberating  arm  in  time  of  peace.  The  mad  ambition  of  slave  owners,  which  struck  at 
the  life  of  the  nation  to  give  new  life  to  slavery,  disclosed  the  power  to  strike  back  the 
blow,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time  a  man  was  found  commissioned  to  the  work. 

We  read  that  in  the  beginning  God  said,  “Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.” 
But  since  the  beginning  human  agencies  have  worked  out  the  ways  of  Providence  ; 
and  never  in  history  since  that  great  fiat  has  it  been  given  to  more  than  one  man  to 
lift  up  from  three  million  souls  the  darkness  and  the  doom  of  slavery.  Our  duty  He 
has  assigned  us  now.  I  believe  that  this  bill,  wisely  administered,  will  complete  the 
work. 

It  will  enable  the  Government  to  help  into  active,  educated,  and  useful  life  a  nation 
of  freedmen  who  otherwise  would  grope  their  way  to  usefulness  through  neglect  and 
suffering  to  themselves,  and  with  heavy  and  needless  loss  to  us. 

They  are  children  of  the  Government.  By  the  necessities  of  war  deprived  of  the 
guiding  and  controlling  hand  which  had  held  in  stern  mastery  their  earthly  destinies, 
they  are  unused  to  rights  heretofore  denied  them,  yet  they  know  somewhat  of  them 
by  instinct  and  by  association.  No  matter  how  abject  the  slavery,  the  idea  of  freedom 
is  in  the  soul,  and  when  the  friendly  hand  has  been  extended  the  freedman  has  shown 
capacity  and  will  to  walk  as  a  man  among  men.  What  they  require  is  to  be  made 
sure  that  they  are  free,  and  to  be  furnished  a  chance  to  work  and  to  be  guarantied  their 
reasonable  wages.  Work  they  understand.  Their  mothers  worked  before  them,  and 
went  down  into  dishonored  graves,  cursed  by  the  unpaid  toil  of  bondage.  But  wages 
they  have  not  owned,  and  in  the  right  to  earn  and  to  enjoy  them  they  find  their  man¬ 
hood.  Soon  they  will  find  the  place  they  have  a  right  to  fill.  Quick  to-  learn,  appre¬ 
ciating  kindnesses,  and  returning  them  with  veneration  and  affection,  earnest  to  acquire 
property,  because  that  too  is  proof  of  manhood,  they  ask  but'  opportunity,  and  guid¬ 
ance,  and  education  for  a  season,  and  then  they  will  repay  you  some  thirty,  and  some 
sixty,  and  some  an  hundred-fold. 

Without  your  legislation  the  freedmen  able  to  fight  will  be  alienated  from  your  cause  ; 
the  freedmen  unfit  for  service,  with  the  young  and  the  aged  and  infirm,  will  be  a  charge 
upon  your  Treasury.  But  give  the  aid  which  this  bill  can  secure  to  them  and  you  will 
quickly  find  not  only  that  peace  which  comes  from  duty  well  discharged,  but  material 
strength  and  a  recompense  of  reward  which  after  all  the  expenses  of  your  bureau  shall 
have  been  defrayed  will  contribute  to  your  wealth. 

So  shall  this,  your  act,  give  to  the  freedmen  of  the  South  and  to  all  the  freemen 
whom  you  represent,  “  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the  garment 
of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.” 


H.  Polkinhonn,  Printer,  375  and  377  D  sireet,  near  Seventh,  Washington,  D.  C. 


